Education

B.S. in Biological Sciences, Virginia Tech, 2005
Ph.D in Human & Molecular Genetics, VCU, 2012

Research Interests

Adkins' research focus is on understanding genetic and environmental risk factors underlying risky alcohol use and related problems. More globally, she is interested in the etiology of college behavioral and emotional health outcomes. 

Adkins is Program Director of Faculty Research in the Development Center for Research Health and Social Justice (CRHS) and a Faculty Investigator in the Health Equity Across the Lifespan in Virginia Lab (HEAL-VA Lab).

Select Publications

• Adkins, A., Hack, L. M., Bigdeli, T. B., Williamson, V. S., Mamdani, M., Edwards, A., Aliev, F., Chan, R. F., Bhandari, P., Raabe, R., Alaimo, J. T., Blackwell, G. G., Moscati, A. A., Patterson, D. G., Walsh, D., Collaborative Study of the Genetics of Alcoholism Consortium, Whitfield, J. B., Zhu, G., Montgomery, G. W., Henders, A. K., Martin, N. G., Heath, A. C., Madden, P. A. F., Frank, J., Ridinger, M., Wodarz, N., Soyka, M.,  Zill, P., Ising, M., Nöthen, M. M., Kiefer, F., Rietschel, M., The German Study of the Genetics of Addiction Consortium, Gelernter, J., Sherva, R., Koesterer, R., Almasy, L., Zhao, H., Kranzler, H. R., Farrer, L. A.,  Maher, B. S., Prescott, C. A.,  Dick, D. M., Bacanu, S. A., Mathies, L. D.,  Davies, A. G., Vladimirov, V. I., Grotewiel, M., Bettinger, J. C., Webb, B. T., Miles, M. F., Kendler, K. S., & Riley, B. P.  (2017). Genomewide association study of alcohol dependence in a homogeneous Irish sample identifies risk loci supported by model organism studies and convergent functional evidence. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research. 41, 911-928. doi: 10.1111/acer.13362
• Moore, A., Overstreet, C., Kendler, K. S., Dick, D. M., Amstadter, A., & Adkins, A. (2017). Potentially traumatic events, personality and risky sexual behavior in undergraduate college students. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy. 9, 105-112. doi: 10.1037/tra0000168
• Webb, B. T., Edwards, A. C., Wolen, A. R., Salvatore, J. E., Aliev, F., Riley, B. P., Sun, C., Williamson, V. S., Kitchens, J. N., Pederson, K., Adkins, A., Cooke, M. E., Savage, J. E., Neale, Z., Cho, S. B., Dick, D. M., & Kendler, K. S. (2017). Genetic influences on normative and problematic alcohol use in a population-based sample of college students. Frontiers Genetics, 8, 30. doi: 10.3389/fgene.2017.00030
• Dick, D. M., Adkins, A., & Kuo, S. (2016). Genetic influences on adolescent behavior. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 70, 198-205. doi: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2016.07.007
• Kendler, K. S., Edwards, A., Myers, J., Cho, S. B., Adkins, A., & Dick, D. (2015). The predictive power of family history measures of alcohol and drug problems and internalizing disorders in a college population. American Journal of Medical Genetics Part B: Neuropsychiatric Genetics, 168, 337-346. doi: 10.1002/ajmg.b.32320